Clinton and Obama pursue Vermont's delegates

(Host) The presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and
Hillary Clinton are working hard to win delegates in Vermont's
Town Meeting Day primary.

At stake are 16 delegates to the Democratic National
convention.

VPR's Bob Kinzel reports.

(Kinzel) Sixteen delegates might not seem like a prize
worth pursing. But the race between Senator Obama and Senator Clinton is so
close that both campaigns are opening multiple offices in Vermont, they're
running TV and radio ads and they're organizing volunteers to canvass the
state.

In addition to the 16 delegates up for grabs in the
primary, Vermont Democrats have nominated seven people as super delegates. The
group includes: Senator Patrick Leahy, Congressman Peter Welch, former governor
Howard Dean, who's now the chairman of the Democratic Party, and Vermont's
four representatives on the Democratic National Committee.

Billi Gosh is one of the super delegates and the only one
who's pledged to vote for Senator Clinton.

Speaking on VPR's Vermont Edition, Gosh says there are a
number of reasons why she's backing the New York
senator:

(Gosh) "I'm supporting her because of the depth of her
knowledge of the issues that are affecting our country and because of her
powerful intellect and because of the breadth of her experience. I'm also
supporting her because she is a woman and I think she will be a terrific
president."

(Kinzel) Chuck Ross is a super delegate who supports
Senator Obama.

(Ross) "It's
clear to me that Senator Obama has stirred something in this country and a
hunger in this country for the kind of change that he has represented by the
people that he has brought to the polls to support him."

(Kinzel) Ross says there aren't a lot of policy
differences between Obama and Clinton. But he says Obama's early opposition to
the war in Iraq
and Clinton's initial vote to
authorize the war highlights one major difference.

(Ross) "That
was a decision and has had a ramification that affects everything in the Mideast. And Senator Obama, in my view, made the right decision to oppose the
war in Iraq. And so I think that alone is a
demonstration of his ability to make the right judgments, to make the right
calls."

(Kinzel) Gosh says Clinton
has been a strong opponent of the Iraq
war in recent years and is backing a timetable to withdraw most U.S.
troops.

Will either of the candidates visit Vermont
in the coming days?

Gosh says she got a surprise phone call from Clinton
on Wednesday night where this issue was discussed.

(Gosh) "She
asked if there was anything that I needed and I said,`Yes, we really would love
to have you or the president come to Vermont, no matter how briefly, to greet the voters
and let us see you.' And she said, `I think that can be done.' So we will
see."

(Kinzel) Both Ross and Gosh say it's unlikely that the
outcome of the Vermont primary
will have much of an impact on their super delegate vote. Ross still plans to
vote for Obama - Gosh will vote for Clinton.

They say the super delegates are supposed to reflect
independent judgment and that's what they intend to do at the convention this
summer.